Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Gregory J. Steele, P.E., Dynamic Air Inc., USA, Describes The New Generation of Dense Phase Pneumatic Conveying Systems
Gregory J. Steele, P.E., Dynamic Air Inc., USA, Describes The New Generation of Dense Phase Pneumatic Conveying Systems
power consumption of the conveying system is of however, are plagued with problems such as high
prime importance. In pneumatic conveying, the maintenance and high air consumption. The impeller
power consumption is a function of the system screw pump requires two motors to deliver cement:
design, transfer rate, and conveying length. A con- the screw drive motor, and the air compressor motor.
veying system, therefore, that transfers 100 tph of In the case of the 100 tph and 200 m convey length
cement over a distance of 200 m will use about the example, the screw drive motor requires about 93 kW
same power as a system of the same design and con- and the air compressor motor requires about 186 kW.
veying the same material at a rate of 200 tph over a So, the screw motor consumes one third of the total
distance of 100 m. So, from this it is evident that the power of the system, or 50% of the power of the air
length of a pneumatic conveying system has the same compressor. If a pneumatic conveying system could be
impact on power consumption as the rate. utilised that eliminates the screw motor, dramatic
Traditionally, cement has been handled and con- savings in power consumption would be observed.
veyed by medium phase pneumatic conveying sys- Power consumption savings do not stop with the
tems such as impeller screw pumps. These systems, cost of electricity. There are also many other benefits
associated with lower power con-
sumption. First, if a conveying sys-
tem uses less power, there is less
Figure 2. Dense phase conveying system.
maintenance. Compare the Form-
ula 1 race car to the economy car.
Which car needs more mainte-
nance? Which car gets more life
from the tyres? From the engine?
Pneumatic conveying systems are
no different. If two pneumatic
conveying systems must convey
the same material over the same
distance, and one system uses less
power than the other, then the
lower power consumption system
will have less wear, will need a
smaller dust filter, and will create
less pollution.
A new generation
Through research and develop-
ment, a new dense phase pneu-
matic conveying concept has been
born, the Dense Phase Full Line
Concept with DC-5 Air Saver tech-
nology (Figure 3). The DC-5 Air
Saver technology is a means by
which compressed air is automati-
cally injected along the conveying
pipe in small amounts in response
to the conditions inside the con-
veying pipe.
This new technology reduces
the air consumption to the
absolute minimum by allowing
the system to convey with the
conveying pipe line at maximum
density. This means that the con-
veying pipe is as full as possible
with cement, and not flowing
dilute with cement as a vacuum
cleaner would. This maximum
Figure 3. Full Line
density conveying technique has
Concept™ convey-
ing system with three main advantages. Firstly,
DC-5 Air Savers. because the conveying pipe line is
so dense with cement, the air can-
not slip past the cement, which
is a common inefficiency in
Figure 4. Air
efficiency vs.
conveying
velocity.
Improved reliability
Finally, the DC-5 Air Saver technology has provided
another very significant benefit, reliability. As the
If the conveying density is increased, therefore, compressed air is injected along the conveying pipe
while holding all of the other variables constant, the line, should the system tend to block or plug, the
conveying velocity will decrease. DC-5 Air Saver technology automatically adjusts the
compressed air distribution to break the plug. The
Benefits of velocity control system automatically reacts to the conveying condi-
Velocity control is another byproduct of this new tions and can provide tremendous leverage to dis-
technology. Since compressed air is injected along lodge a blockage at any point along the conveying
the conveying pipe, the DC-5 Air Saver technology pipe. Although most tend to focus on the air efficien-
can provide very accurate control of the conveying cy aspect of the conveying system, reliability is maybe
velocity. This is important for three reasons. Firstly, of even more importance. A robust conveying system
similar to a car, energy efficiency in a pneumatic will allow the conveying system to function even
conveying system is velocity dependent. In general, when the material to be conveyed is not ideal.
the slower the conveying velocity, the better the air
efficiency (Figure 4). Secondly, pipe wear increases How does it work?
with velocity, and is proportional to the velocity A series of air inlet controls, called DC-5 Air Savers,
cubed. So, if the velocity is doubled, the wear are mounted on the conveying line. Each one allows
increases eight times. Thus, even small reductions in part of the conveying air to enter the conveying line.
velocity can provide dramatic improvements in pipe They have the dual purpose of being able to control
wear. Thirdly, and maybe the least intuitive, is that a the conveying velocity, as well as prevent system
slower conveying velocity reduces the chance of con- plugging. In effect, the Air Saver will reduce the total
vey pipe plugging. Most would think the opposite. resistance of the system. The effect of each provides
After all, if one does not want a car to get stuck in an incremental force. The total number of Air Savers
the mud, one had better go very fast through it. The acting in unison produces a significant total force.
opposite is true for pneumatic conveying systems. The Full Line Concept™ (with the DC-5 Air Savers)
The reason for this is that a pneumatic conveying operates as follows: Material fills the transporter
system must change directions through the use of from a storage silo through an inflatable seated but-
pipe bends. When the conveyed material reaches terfly valve. Displaced air is vented up through a vent
the pipe bend, it decelerates due to the friction of valve to allow easier filling. Once the transporter is
the bend. If the material is moving too fast when filled, as signalled by a high level control or weighing
entering the bend, it will decelerate rapidly, causing device, the inlet and vent valves close and seal. Then
the conveyed material to compact like a brick, and the outlet valve opens and compressed air is intro-
form a plug. If the conveying velocity is very slow, duced into the transporter to displace the conveyed
however, the deceleration will be negligible. A sim- material. All other compressed air used for conveying
ple illustration of this can be provided. At the speed is added through the DC-5 Air Savers spaced along
of a Formula 1 race car, one must brake hard at the conveying line.
every turn. If you rode a bicycle on the same track, When the transporter is completely empty, as sig-
though, one would hardly notice the turn since the nalled by a low level control in the transporter, the com-
bicycle speed is so slow. This is what the pneumatic pressed air is turned off and material stops in the con-
conveying system is trying to achieve. veying line. Since the conveying line does not purge
itself clean, the high velocity normally seen in the con- system needs to convey to two destinations, one that
ventional type system during the purge cycle is totally is 30 m in length and another that is 300 m in length,
eliminated, thus making the Full Line Concept system the pneumatic conveying system should operate at a
ideal for abrasive and/or fragile materials. lower pressure for the 30 m length destination.
Also, since the line always remains full, there is no
time lost in emptying and filling the conveying line. Selection of dust filtration equipment
Air consumption is drastically reduced making the sys- At the end of every pneumatic conveying system must
tem ideal for long conveying line distances and where be a dust filter. The cement dust must be separated
a single material is being conveyed. The system can, from the air. Dust filtration requirements for dense
however, operate as a conventional system when the phase pneumatic conveying systems are different
conveying line needs to be purged for maintenance than for central dust collection systems. For example,
or if product changeover is necessary. a dense phase pneumatic conveying system does not
provide a steady state air flow to the dust filter. In a
Other components dense phase pneumatic conveying system, the con-
The valves that seal the transporter must be able to veyed material flows in slugs separated by pockets of
open and close on cement, and be able to provide a air. These pockets of air are pressurised. When these
bubble-tight seal. Even the smallest of leaks will pro- air pockets reach the destination silo they rapidly
gressively damage the valve as the air (and abrasive depressurise, resulting in high instantaneous air flow
cement) exit the small leak at sonic velocity. The use of to the dust filter. Thus, it is important that the dust
inflatable seat valves such as the Posi-flate butterfly filter is designed to accommodate this situation. In
valve (Figure 5) have dramatically improved the relia- general, dust filters with venturi cleaning mecha-
bility of pneumatic conveying systems by allowing 1 to nisms should be avoided because of the high pressure
3 million cycles between service intervals. drop associated with them. Modern conveying sys-
The method of joining the pipe seems like an tems use cartridge filters (Figure 7) to reduce pollu-
insignificant point, but it is critical from an air effi- tion, reduce space, and provide easier maintenance.
ciency point of view. A typical flanged joint, for Dust filters, such as the one shown in Figure 7, can
example, allows joint misalignment. On a long con- provide filtration efficiencies of 99.999+%, and typi-
veying system, this adds up to significantly more pres- cally provide emissions below 5 mg/m3.
sure drop (and horsepower). So, the use of self-align-
ing couplings such as the Tuf-Lok pipe coupling Conclusion
(Figure 6) ensures that the piping system is perfectly As cement producers become more concerned with
aligned and smooth on the interior joints. the energy efficiency, as well as the reliability of their
The PLC control system is maybe one of the most conveying systems, they will demand more advanced
important components of a pneumatic conveying sys- conveying systems to reduce their operating costs. A
tem. It is the brains of the system. Proper monitoring supplier of pneumatic conveying systems today,
and control of the system, therefore, is vital to the therefore, has to provide a high technology solution
system functioning as designed. A modern pneumatic to move material reliably and with the minimum
conveying system should have PLC controlled pres- amount of compressed air. Although slightly more
sure regulation. This means that the PLC can change costly, the savings in operating costs often pay for the
the system pressure automatically in response to the advanced technology pneumatic conveying system in
operation. For example, if a pneumatic conveying just a few years._________________________________